Dumb question # 487
Anyone mind sharing tips on throttle cable adjustment? My wife says if I keep playing with my bike's throttle in the garage at night I'll wake the kids. Maybe with some pointers from you guyz dad can finish his throttle adjustments and the kids can get some rest.
The short synopsis: Throttle stays revved even after releasing the grip. Even after the throttle has returned to home position the rpms are high. If I jiggle the throttle, the rpms drift downward.
I have lubed cables, throttle tube, and now throttle housing. Could it be my cables are too tight?
I ordered new cables from Dealer today, couldn't find them anywhere else and price is good. I'm still chasing this sticky throttle problem and I will pursue it until resolved.
I don't think it's a vacuum leak or a carb problem as the problem got 10 times worse when I lubed the cables. I must've moved something out of adjustment or kinked a cable.
Thanks again.
Rat
Re: Throttle Woes -- Bad To Worse
I'm still wrassling with my throttle, which I made inexplicably worse by disassembling and lubricating...
Vroom the throttle revs up, and never revs down. what the hell? About one out of every three throttle applications, the RPMs stay high and never come down. I can nudge the throttle down and it'll take the hint, and start dropping RPM.
Based on maggot advice, I double-checked that the throttle grip is not binding on the hard rubber plug that fills the end of the handlebar. Nor is it binding up against the throttle switch housing.
Before my lube job, it would hesitate in the snapping shut. Now it snaps shut with a click. But it stays revved now worse than before ... independent of the throttle snapping shut.
Based on what I'm seeing, I'm thinking I'm either binding inside the throttle housing, where the cables sit inside their grooves -- or, I have a kinked decelerator cable.
I double-checked the cable routing -- using my wife's matching V30 as a handy reference -- and my cables are routed fine.
One thing that I was really unsure about when I disassembled the throttle housing was the decelerator cable's weird elbow where the cable joins with the throttle housing on the handle-bar. The only way to remove it was to rotate the cable round and round while threading the elbow onto the throttle switch housing. Seems like this would twist the cable. I hope when I rethreaded the elbow back onto the housing that I used the same number of twists. If I didn't, did I end up twisting or kinking the cable inside the sheath? There are no visible kinks in the sheath.
Is there some technique for attaching and detaching these throttle cables that I don't know about? How do I know if my cables have an appropriate freedom of movement?
The throttle free-play has been adjusted according to Honda spec and seems just fine. And, as I mentioned before, visibly the throttle grip seems to snap back shut much better than it did before my disassembly.
Any thoughts or suggestions welcome (again, excepting the "buy a new Yamaha" advice)...
Regards,
The Rat
1984 VF500C V30 Red "Katie" (hers) 1984 VF500C V30 Black "Raven" (mine)
Vroom the throttle revs up, and never revs down. what the hell? About one out of every three throttle applications, the RPMs stay high and never come down. I can nudge the throttle down and it'll take the hint, and start dropping RPM.
Based on maggot advice, I double-checked that the throttle grip is not binding on the hard rubber plug that fills the end of the handlebar. Nor is it binding up against the throttle switch housing.
Before my lube job, it would hesitate in the snapping shut. Now it snaps shut with a click. But it stays revved now worse than before ... independent of the throttle snapping shut.
Based on what I'm seeing, I'm thinking I'm either binding inside the throttle housing, where the cables sit inside their grooves -- or, I have a kinked decelerator cable.
I double-checked the cable routing -- using my wife's matching V30 as a handy reference -- and my cables are routed fine.
One thing that I was really unsure about when I disassembled the throttle housing was the decelerator cable's weird elbow where the cable joins with the throttle housing on the handle-bar. The only way to remove it was to rotate the cable round and round while threading the elbow onto the throttle switch housing. Seems like this would twist the cable. I hope when I rethreaded the elbow back onto the housing that I used the same number of twists. If I didn't, did I end up twisting or kinking the cable inside the sheath? There are no visible kinks in the sheath.
Is there some technique for attaching and detaching these throttle cables that I don't know about? How do I know if my cables have an appropriate freedom of movement?
The throttle free-play has been adjusted according to Honda spec and seems just fine. And, as I mentioned before, visibly the throttle grip seems to snap back shut much better than it did before my disassembly.
Any thoughts or suggestions welcome (again, excepting the "buy a new Yamaha" advice)...
Regards,
The Rat
1984 VF500C V30 Red "Katie" (hers) 1984 VF500C V30 Black "Raven" (mine)
Throttle Woes -- Bad To Worse
Okay, now I've done it!
I disassembled the throttle switch housing, removed the throttle grip. I removed the mud from underneath the grip sheath and lubricated it. It moves beautifully!
I cursed my way through fetching the throttle cable ends out of the switch housing, and lubed the cables. Not with WD40 but with a cable lube oil. They move much more freely now. Man, this was surely the problem! It works and feels great!
So -- everything's going according to plan, ain't it?
Put it all back together and fire it up.
Vroom the throttle revs up, and never revs down. what the hell? About one out of every three throttle applications, the RPMs stay high and never come down. I can nudge the throttle down and it'll take the hint, and start dropping RPM.
Nuts!
Tomorrow or whenever I get my next chance I'm going to disassemble the throttle switch housing and see if I missed something. Dunno if I kinked a cable or something. The thing that really puzzles me about this is that the throttle snaps shut like it outta. Before my lube job, it would hesitate in the snapping shut. Now it snaps shut with a click. But it stays revved now worse than before ... independent of the throttle snapping shut.
I'm going to retrace my steps and see what I missed. Didn't I read something about lube oil getting sucked into the carbeurator? Gotta do more research
Any insights would be greatly appreciated!
Regards,
The Rat
1984 VF500C V30 Red "Katie" (hers) 1984 VF500C V30 Black "Raven" (mine)
I disassembled the throttle switch housing, removed the throttle grip. I removed the mud from underneath the grip sheath and lubricated it. It moves beautifully!
I cursed my way through fetching the throttle cable ends out of the switch housing, and lubed the cables. Not with WD40 but with a cable lube oil. They move much more freely now. Man, this was surely the problem! It works and feels great!
So -- everything's going according to plan, ain't it?
Put it all back together and fire it up.
Vroom the throttle revs up, and never revs down. what the hell? About one out of every three throttle applications, the RPMs stay high and never come down. I can nudge the throttle down and it'll take the hint, and start dropping RPM.
Nuts!
Tomorrow or whenever I get my next chance I'm going to disassemble the throttle switch housing and see if I missed something. Dunno if I kinked a cable or something. The thing that really puzzles me about this is that the throttle snaps shut like it outta. Before my lube job, it would hesitate in the snapping shut. Now it snaps shut with a click. But it stays revved now worse than before ... independent of the throttle snapping shut.
I'm going to retrace my steps and see what I missed. Didn't I read something about lube oil getting sucked into the carbeurator? Gotta do more research
Any insights would be greatly appreciated!
Regards,
The Rat
1984 VF500C V30 Red "Katie" (hers) 1984 VF500C V30 Black "Raven" (mine)
Clutch Success / Throttle Question
My clutch woes have been discussed in detail here in prior posts. So my clutch successes should be shared with all as well.
Tonight I replaced the worn clutch lever bushing and M/C push rod. All the slop I had felt in the clutch lever was gone.
Tonight I took er for a spin. It's fixed! Feels great, feels better than the clutch on my wife's bike! Feels like new!
All of that without touching clutch plates or even clutch slave cylinder. Just despooging the Clutch M/C and bleeding bleeding bleeding.
Thanks for all your help!
Next question ( I'm never satisfied ) --- Raven's throttle is still stickier than my wife's throttle. Mine doesn't snap shut as quickly as hers. I can't get no satisfaction at lubricating the throttle cable -- Honda service manual says very little -- only, "disconnect the throttle cable at its upper end. Thoroughly lubricate the cable..."
Do I need to disassemble the throttle "switch housing" to gain access to the "upper end"?
I have gotten only a little relief by spraying WD40 in the cable channels at the throttle grip (suggested by motorcyclist magazine and also at least one maggot in a previous post) but I'm still feeling some stickiness in the throttle. I don't think the throttle grip is dragging. Throttle rolls on just fine, but hesitates a little at rolling off.
20 year old bike I'm wondering if the "decceleratrix" cable is worn; getting a better look would give me some piece of mind too I guess.
Thanks in advance for your help!
The Rat
1984 VF500C V30 Red "Katie" (hers) 1984 VF500C V30 Black "Raven" (mine)
Tonight I replaced the worn clutch lever bushing and M/C push rod. All the slop I had felt in the clutch lever was gone.
Tonight I took er for a spin. It's fixed! Feels great, feels better than the clutch on my wife's bike! Feels like new!
All of that without touching clutch plates or even clutch slave cylinder. Just despooging the Clutch M/C and bleeding bleeding bleeding.
Thanks for all your help!
Next question ( I'm never satisfied ) --- Raven's throttle is still stickier than my wife's throttle. Mine doesn't snap shut as quickly as hers. I can't get no satisfaction at lubricating the throttle cable -- Honda service manual says very little -- only, "disconnect the throttle cable at its upper end. Thoroughly lubricate the cable..."
Do I need to disassemble the throttle "switch housing" to gain access to the "upper end"?
I have gotten only a little relief by spraying WD40 in the cable channels at the throttle grip (suggested by motorcyclist magazine and also at least one maggot in a previous post) but I'm still feeling some stickiness in the throttle. I don't think the throttle grip is dragging. Throttle rolls on just fine, but hesitates a little at rolling off.
20 year old bike I'm wondering if the "decceleratrix" cable is worn; getting a better look would give me some piece of mind too I guess.
Thanks in advance for your help!
The Rat
1984 VF500C V30 Red "Katie" (hers) 1984 VF500C V30 Black "Raven" (mine)
Clutch Push-rod
The old clutch master cylinder bushing and push rod.It's supposed to be symmetrical. This is a case study in why you should periodically lubricate your pivot points. This information is in the owner's manual -- but was an aspect of routine maintenance that was obviously got overlooked by the previous owner.
Fortunately for me, there's a wonderful website, www.oldbikebarn.com, that stocks parts for old bikes like these.
Clutch Woes, Continued
You might remember my clutch woes on Raven, which I've written about before.
I followed this groups advice and bled everything on the clutch, and am quite happy with the results. Particularly that little nugget about strapping the clutch lever to the grip and leaving it there for 48 hours -- that seemed to work like a charm. Now when I squeeze the lever the clutch actually works! So this is marked improvement.
I'm still not happy with overall clutch function, however. Again, using my wife's "identical make and model" V30 as a reference point, there is way too much slop in my clutch handle. I have about 1 inch of play, measured at the tip of the clutch lever, between fully released and the point at which the clutch M/C rod begins to push into the cylinder. On my wife's V30 by comparison there is less than 1/8 inch play.
I disassembled lever, bushing, rod and pivot and found considerable wear. Already have replacement MC rod and bushing in hand, so next time I get a break I'll replace those. If that doesn't work, the next step is the Clutch M/C rebuild, I think, based on the behavior I'm seeing.
I'll post photos of my old and new parts for reference once I've done the project.
Now I'm off to try to find a clutch M/C "kit". I thought I was buying a clutch m/c kit with replacement cylinder and seals from OldBikeBarn.com, but when it arrived it was just the MC push rod and bush. My fault for not reading the description carefully. Any thoughts on tracking down pure V30 unobtanium? Bike Bandit has it for $43 plus shipping.
Thanks in advance.
The Rat
1984 VF500C V30 Red "Katie" (hers)
1984 VF500C V30 Black "Raven" (mine)
I followed this groups advice and bled everything on the clutch, and am quite happy with the results. Particularly that little nugget about strapping the clutch lever to the grip and leaving it there for 48 hours -- that seemed to work like a charm. Now when I squeeze the lever the clutch actually works! So this is marked improvement.
I'm still not happy with overall clutch function, however. Again, using my wife's "identical make and model" V30 as a reference point, there is way too much slop in my clutch handle. I have about 1 inch of play, measured at the tip of the clutch lever, between fully released and the point at which the clutch M/C rod begins to push into the cylinder. On my wife's V30 by comparison there is less than 1/8 inch play.
I disassembled lever, bushing, rod and pivot and found considerable wear. Already have replacement MC rod and bushing in hand, so next time I get a break I'll replace those. If that doesn't work, the next step is the Clutch M/C rebuild, I think, based on the behavior I'm seeing.
I'll post photos of my old and new parts for reference once I've done the project.
Now I'm off to try to find a clutch M/C "kit". I thought I was buying a clutch m/c kit with replacement cylinder and seals from OldBikeBarn.com, but when it arrived it was just the MC push rod and bush. My fault for not reading the description carefully. Any thoughts on tracking down pure V30 unobtanium? Bike Bandit has it for $43 plus shipping.
Thanks in advance.
The Rat
1984 VF500C V30 Red "Katie" (hers)
1984 VF500C V30 Black "Raven" (mine)
Leaky Tank
Her tank was rusty on the inside when I bought the bike last year. At least it has an inline fuel filter. Tonight when she got home from her ride I could smell gas. I could hear sizzling drips of something falling onto a hot surface. Before we brought it into the garage I pulled out the flashlight and probed 
around. I spotted liquid dripping, sheeting down a tube, dripping onto the rear head. Everything was still hot, but a paper towel touched to the liquid and retrieved confirmed -- gasoline. 
Did you overfill it? No.
Siphoned out the gasoline, pulled off the seat and propped up the tank. Poked around with a pencil to point out the leaky spots.
There are two tubes descending from the tank, one is small (1/4") and butts right up against the floor of the tank. The other is larger (1/2" ) and attaches to a 90-degree 
elbow. It looks like the smaller one is leaking, but there is gas all over the general area and it's hard to tell the source of the leak.
Despite the ominous dripping of gasoline onto a hot engine, I was able to effectively repair this simply by tightening the hose clamps.
Re: Clutch Help
Somebuggy said:
My Sabre and my Goldwing act the same ways as your bike. And theirclutches are fine. Other than that, does the bike ride OK. No slipping,just the good grabbing, holding and releasing well, etc? Then it's acting normal.
I say:
I'd be surprised if this is normal. The amount of drag while the clutch is pulled back seems excessive. The friction zone in the clutch is very narrow, and when the bike warms up it's almost impossible to go from standing still to moving forward. Let slowly out on the clutch, and instead of a broad band of friction zone, it's like bang it's engaged.
The clutch drag is more than this bike had last season, and it's more than my wife's bike has now. I understand that maybe there's supposed to be some drag when the clutch is pulled back, but I think what I'm dealing with is excessive. For instance, with the bike off, the bike in 1st gear, and the clutch pulled back, I can move my wife's bike. This is how you start with a dead battery! But on my bike, the bike really does not want to move in this situation.
Still trying to figger if I'm looking at warped clutch plates or a gummy clutch slave cylinder. I figure at least the clutch slave cylinder needs cleaning and new seals.
Thanks for your help!
The Rat
1984 VF500C V30 Red "Katie" (hers)
1984 VF500C V30 Black "Raven" (mine)
My Sabre and my Goldwing act the same ways as your bike. And theirclutches are fine. Other than that, does the bike ride OK. No slipping,just the good grabbing, holding and releasing well, etc? Then it's acting normal.
I say:
I'd be surprised if this is normal. The amount of drag while the clutch is pulled back seems excessive. The friction zone in the clutch is very narrow, and when the bike warms up it's almost impossible to go from standing still to moving forward. Let slowly out on the clutch, and instead of a broad band of friction zone, it's like bang it's engaged.
The clutch drag is more than this bike had last season, and it's more than my wife's bike has now. I understand that maybe there's supposed to be some drag when the clutch is pulled back, but I think what I'm dealing with is excessive. For instance, with the bike off, the bike in 1st gear, and the clutch pulled back, I can move my wife's bike. This is how you start with a dead battery! But on my bike, the bike really does not want to move in this situation.
Still trying to figger if I'm looking at warped clutch plates or a gummy clutch slave cylinder. I figure at least the clutch slave cylinder needs cleaning and new seals.
Thanks for your help!
The Rat
1984 VF500C V30 Red "Katie" (hers)
1984 VF500C V30 Black "Raven" (mine)
Re: Clutch Help
>Um, I thought the wheel wasn't *supposed* to move with the clutch
>pulled in?
What I meant was, the bike is off, sitting on its center stand, in first gear, and the clutch lever is pulled in. On my wife's bike, the rear wheel can be turned by hand in this state. On my bike, the rear wheel will not rotate by hand.
What I've gathered from other responses is that I may be looking at a gummed up slave cylinder and not a problem with the clutch plates. If the plates are worn the clutch will slip. I have the opposite problem. I also gather that this is good news, that of the two problems, gummed up slave cylinder is the preferred one i.e. easier to fix.
Now I'm off to find a clutch slave cylinder rebuild kit -- I'm assuming they exist. Dennis Kirk had none that I could find. I'll check Bike Bandit. I'm assuming the rubber seals should be replaced while I have the unit apart for cleaning.
>pulled in?
What I meant was, the bike is off, sitting on its center stand, in first gear, and the clutch lever is pulled in. On my wife's bike, the rear wheel can be turned by hand in this state. On my bike, the rear wheel will not rotate by hand.
What I've gathered from other responses is that I may be looking at a gummed up slave cylinder and not a problem with the clutch plates. If the plates are worn the clutch will slip. I have the opposite problem. I also gather that this is good news, that of the two problems, gummed up slave cylinder is the preferred one i.e. easier to fix.
Now I'm off to find a clutch slave cylinder rebuild kit -- I'm assuming they exist. Dennis Kirk had none that I could find. I'll check Bike Bandit. I'm assuming the rubber seals should be replaced while I have the unit apart for cleaning.
Bad Tire
| Her tires are Kenda Challengers Her rear tire has a cut across the middle. Maybe 1/16 inch deep. I've never seen anything like it. No cords showing.
What do you make of this? How bad is it? Can she still ride? |
Clutch Help
I bled the guinness-colored fluid from my clutch in hopes that it would revive Raven's clutch function. I cleared the mississippi mud from the bottom of my clutch master cylinder's reservoir, and bled til the guinness switched to miller lite.
However, to my dismay, when I put it all back together the rear wheel still won't turn when the bike's in first gear and the clutch lever is pulled back. The rear wheel will turn when the bike's in neutral.
I'm assuming I'm looking at a clutch job to repair this.
As background, when I bought the bike last September, I noticed that when the bike was cold the bike would want to inch forward when it was in first gear, even though the clutch lever was pulled back. This sensation would go away when the bike was warm. It was never much of a problem but I noticed much crappier clutch behavior the last time I took it out. Advice from this list at that time was to start with bleeding the clutch, and move on to some "heavier lifting" if the bleeding didn't work.
I just successfully rebuilt the front brake caliper so I'm wondering how the clutch work that I need to do compares? About the same level of difficulty? Twice as hard?
Tips and gotchas welcome. Looks like I got more work to do before I ride my own ride this summer. Fortunately her bike is running and she's nice enough to let me ride.
Regards,
Ted
1984 VF500C V30 Red "Katie" (hers)
1984 VF500C V30 Black "Raven" (mine)
However, to my dismay, when I put it all back together the rear wheel still won't turn when the bike's in first gear and the clutch lever is pulled back. The rear wheel will turn when the bike's in neutral.
I'm assuming I'm looking at a clutch job to repair this.
As background, when I bought the bike last September, I noticed that when the bike was cold the bike would want to inch forward when it was in first gear, even though the clutch lever was pulled back. This sensation would go away when the bike was warm. It was never much of a problem but I noticed much crappier clutch behavior the last time I took it out. Advice from this list at that time was to start with bleeding the clutch, and move on to some "heavier lifting" if the bleeding didn't work.
I just successfully rebuilt the front brake caliper so I'm wondering how the clutch work that I need to do compares? About the same level of difficulty? Twice as hard?
Tips and gotchas welcome. Looks like I got more work to do before I ride my own ride this summer. Fortunately her bike is running and she's nice enough to let me ride.
Regards,
Ted
1984 VF500C V30 Red "Katie" (hers)
1984 VF500C V30 Black "Raven" (mine)
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